In my district we are beginning to roll out Office 2010. For us, this is a big leap up from Office 2003. The change over to the ribbon bar menu system is at once frustrating and delightful. It is as the reviewers have said, power users will have the difficulty. For them it often is a search for where the heck they stuck the tool that you use everyday. However for casual users, the interfaces gives them information about a world of features they never knew were there. And then, there is just the serendipity of finding something new as you work along and notice a new button in the ribbon. That was the case last week when Nancy Hovorka (the best Tech IA anybody ever could have!) stumbled upon this little gem while working along on a project. In Power Point 2010, under the Slideshow tab you will see a button that says – Broadcast Slide Show. If you have a Windows Live ID, you can click on this button and a URL will be generated for the Power Point Broadcast Service (a public service offered by Microsoft for users of Power Point 2010). If you share the URL with others, they will be able to see your Power Point in their browser. On your end the slideshow moves as you click it. If you were on a conference call with several users they could follow along as you went through your presentation or students in a lab or across a school could follow along as you presented from your computer. It is free if you have Power Point 2010. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

Now I will admit that I have not done complete due diligence, with this tip. Who knows, maybe it has existed in Office 2007 for a long time? Maybe it is part of a broader set of this type of service in other areas of Office 2010? We are a Windows-centric district and I cannot tell my
Mac friends if the service works the same on Office 2010 for Mac (I’d love to know if it does though!). However, it was one of those – hey, this is cool moments and through Nancy, I thought it would be good to share on the blog.

Comments

Patti Ruffing

Steve,
That sounds like a great feature! I can’t wait to start using Office 2010, but alas, we are still on 2007. I did check, and the broadcast option is not available that I could see in 2007.

Have you checked into Microsoft’s Ribbon Hero for Office 2007 and 2010? It turns learning Office tools into a game. I downloaded it and played with it a bit, and I am thinking of installing it on the lab computers but wonder if anyone has tried it with students and what their reaction has been.